Elizabeth Anne “Betty” Reilly (nee Leavitt/Miller) died at her home in Colmar, PA on Monday, April 24.

Born in Virginia on November 22, 1941, to John Leavitt and June Glovier, who later divorced, Betty moved to the Philadelphia area after her parents’ divorce, and she was subsequently adopted by her mother’s second husband, George Miller. 

Betty excelled athletically and was a triple-letter athlete in lacrosse, field hockey, and basketball at Springfield (Montgomery County) Township High School.

Although she was offered numerous sports scholarships, Betty chose to become a nurse, and graduated from what was then the Chestnut Hill Hospital School of Nursing in 1962.

Betty worked at Holy Redeemer Hospital in Meadowbrook, PA until after the birth of her only child, Heather Anne, in 1970. When she returned to nursing, she focused on gerontology, where she would spend the rest of her career. She worked at St. Mary’s Manor in Lansdale, later moving to Chestnut Hill Lodge Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Wyndmoor. She retired in 2017.

While working as an ambulance nurse in the early 1960s, Betty met Peter Reilly, her lifelong love and eventual husband. They married in January of 1968 and enjoyed a honeymoon road trip through California. After moving from an apartment in Feasterville to a ranch house in East Norriton, Betty, Peter, and Heather, and later Peter’s mother, Margaret (Peg) Reilly eventually settled in the Colmar home in 1973.. She lived in the house for what would have been 50 years this summer, and she loved visiting friends and neighbors and having frequent summer barbecues.

Betty dominated the local women’s bowling league in the late 1970s and 1980s. She and Peter enjoyed frequent dinners out with friends, award trips that Peter won from Xerox Corporation, including her favorite destination, Bermuda, spending a few weeks in Ocean City, NJ each summer, and decorating the interior of her house with an astonishing number of pineapples. Betty also loved the family’s Old English Sheepdog, Samson, and her cats, Pyewacket, Mischu, Seamus, and Emmet, even after all of them passed on.

When Peter suffered a sudden, massive stroke in 1994, Betty devoted her life to caring and advocating for him and his well being. She ensured that he got the best possible care at home, bringing her gerontological nursing skills to her most important patient. When she could no longer care for him at home, she ensured that she would see him at her Chestnut Hill workplace every day. Betty and Peter were still crazy about each other, and when Peter died in 2010, she continued to honor his legacy and keep up with Peter’s friends from work and elsewhere, right up to the time of her passing.

In 2003, Heather gave birth to her first daughter, Eleanor Siobhan Powell, and this led to Betty’s quest to be the best grandmother she could be. Eleanor’s younger sister, Maeve Elizabeth Powell, followed in 2007, and Betty enjoyed frequent visits with her grandchildren, including a family vacation to Ireland in 2010. While babysitting, she would often “rest her eyes” while simultaneously watching every Law & Order franchise in existence.

Betty also enjoyed cooking, and her deviled eggs and macaroni salad were the first things to be eaten at any party or barbecue; she also had to hide the chocolate chip cookies she baked every holiday season to prevent Peter from absconding with them. She also loved dark chocolate and Yum Yum donuts. On each granddaughter’s birthday, she would never fail to send a card with a check made out in the amount of the age that the girls were turning, and they could expect a personal phone call on every holiday that they weren’t spending together. Up until the day she died, she carried a calendar in her purse where she had pre-written birthdays and anniversaries for the year, including her grand-dogs. Her youthful hoops prowess was sublimated into a passion for NCAA basketball, rendering her unreachable during March Madness. She was also an ardent (read: yelling at the TV) fan of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Her “macaroni casserole” recipe lives on, for which her granddaughter Eleanor is especially grateful. Finally, her love for Barry Manilow knew no limits, and she and Heather were fortunate to attend several of his concerts together as “Fanilows.”

Betty was predeceased by her parents and her husband Peter E. Reilly, III, and is survived by her daughter Heather Anne and her partner Jeffrey Valcarcel, her beloved granddaughters, Eleanor and Maeve, and her grand-dogs Opal and Phoebe, with whom Betty had a special rapport. She is also survived by her sister Joan (Miller) Huff and one nephew, Christopher Huff, both of North Carolina. Betty will also be dearly missed by her “Hen Brunch” longtime friends, former coworkers, and so many others who crossed her path.

Visitation and a Memorial Service will be held at the Simcox McIlvaine Funeral Home, 532 E. Main St., Lansdale, on Friday, May 19, 2023.  Friends and family may visit from 12:00 noon to 1:00 PM. The Memorial Service will follow at 1 PM. Interment will be private at the Washington Crossing National Cemetery, where she will be reunited with her beloved Peter.

Betty was a lifelong blood donor and proudly carried her Red Cross card with her at all times. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to your local Red Cross.